Fusion Cover Choices
The Fusion Package features the Artisan AI series of magazine albums. Of the many features we're excited about with this album, the one thing that we like the most is the wide array of colors and textures for the cover of these albums. We break them down into four different series and offer PDFs of each series. Please note that though these options are subject to change without notice.
Leatherette- Leatherette is the standard cover material. Even if you never upgrade from this option you will have a cover that has great long term durability. Currently there are 10 different lovely color options available in the Leatherette line. Click here to download the PDF.
Vibrance Series- If you can't find what you're looking for in the Leatherette series and want more options, how about another 25 more? Featuring novasuede, metallic, pearls, and fabric cover, the Vibrance Series offers the durability and stain resistance of leather at a substantial savings. Click here to download the PDF.
Genuine Leather- Let's keep it real! Leather conveys style and elegance while offering great long term durability. With 13 different colors including green and a vibrant red you are certain to find something that you'll love. Click here to download the PDF. We're fully expecting to offer even more leather options in the future. Click here to download the PDF.
Extreme Leather- Don't look at this PDF! We're warning you, please don't look at this. If all you've ever seen are plain album covers, and if you are going to be happy with one of the standard Leatherette covers, then DON"T LOOK! You've never seen anything like this before, neither have your friends and family. These cover options will set the pace for your bridal album. People are going to want to look at it, touch it, and hold your album. With a dozen different extreme leather choices, this is an upgrade option that you may want to seriously consider. Click here to download the PDF.
Let's look closer at album covers-
Copper with attitude!
This cover features a Raindrop Copper Kettle (Vibrance Series) cover with a split with a black leatherette binding. We call this process a two-tone cover. It has a very distinctive look going for it. Occasionally we see these copper colors used as a color theme in a wedding, and thus this cover may help tie theme of the wedding with the bridal album. Since this is a Vibrance Series cover it's a fairly inexpensive upgrade. The two tone cover is yet another upgrade.
Inset photo with leather, unique sized album.
This album features a Genuine Leather Coffee Brown cover. It has an inset photo on the cover Notice how this photo is a unique size? You don't have to stick with standard size images when you select this option for your Fusion Package. We can create custom sized images for your inset photo. The album itself is a custom size, and creates an interesting look for a bridal album. Though it's not an ideal layout size for a bridal album, it may be something of interest if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.
Distressed Leather!
This is two tone Extreme Leather cover. The lighter color is Gator Sand and the darker is Gator Brown. The rough distressed leather gives the album cover texture. Of course this is an exciting cover option. Perhaps a good way to tie in the fact this is a wedding album is to have an inset photo on the cover. A sepia would work well for the Gator Sand and a black and white or sepia for the Gator Brown. This is where the choice of covers images gets very crucial because the image subject and image color tinting need to tie into the album cover. We'll work with you to select a few different images but in the end it may be one of those things that the album manufacture may need to hold next to the cover and make a decision. You don't want to leave this up to luck, it really needs to work.
10x10 bridal album and 5x5 Parent album
This image will answer a few questions you may have. The first is if you wonder how large the parent album is compared to the main bridal album. You can see that it's a good size, and that your parents won't have a problem seeing the images clearly in these albums. Mom will like that the parent album will fit into her handbag and go places. Can you get them in a larger size? Certainly! The parent album also comes in six inch and 8 inch sizes. However, as these albums get larger in size the price jumps disproportionately. We've had many brides be pleasantly surprised how wonderful the 5x5 album sizes are and how well they are received by their parents.
As far as the cover material is concerned this is Vibrance Series cover. This is a Tristan Read Weave which is a fabric cover. The two tone Spine second color is Crimson, also a Vibrance Series cover option. Look at the image carefully, do you like the two tone cover style, or do you just like the solid wrap of the Tristan Read Weave around the cover? The Vibrance Series cover upgrades are fairly economical. You may have a mom who would really enjoy this cover on her parent album, It does convey something a bit more personal than a black Leatherette cover. it's interesting, the same material on the larger bridal album has a bit more shock value when it's paired up with the Crimson spine two tone. It just goes to show you that you can have fun with these cover options!
Red cover with white spine
So, your mom is suggesting you get a nice white wedding album just like she had, huh? Yikes! The funny thing is that white has always been an option for a cover for just about every album we've ever sold Yet, after more than a dozen years, nobody has left the studio with a white album. Many have left with pearl, but nobody with just a simple white cover.
This is an example of Genuine Leather two tone Flour White spine with a Red cover. To be fair this was a cover for a Bar Mitzvah album. If you're a 13 year old boy you may think this looks really cool.
Stainless Steel (The Real Steel!)
This is an Ocean Blue Genuine Leather cover with a stainless steel cover. We've been offering stainless steel covers for years now, nearly as long as we've been offering magazine albums. So, looking at the cover you see many images from a Bar Mitzvah and you're thinking "Nice, but I'm getting married, not having a Bar Mitzvah." Ah, yes. The thing to keep in mind is that these images printed out nicely on the cover. In fact, it's the best we've ever seen. In the past we've seen album manufactures make some very poor attempts to do this. The image reproduction is spot on accurate. And though this montage cover may be too busy for a wedding album, you can be certain that if you had an image that rocks for your cover it can be printed faithfully on your steel cover.
One funny thing about stainless steel is that women often like it but guys often really like it. We had one groom in particular a few years back who found the entire wedding planning process a bit too chick foo-foo. He went to the appointments just to help keep control of his costs but during the meetings he would withdraw and think about guy stuff, The Lakers, Deep Sea Fishing, 69 Cameros. When we showed got to the steel cover the guy woke up out of his trance. It was something he could identify with. A few weeks later when we were scheduling the engagement portrait the bride told us that this was a turning point for him and that he actually was getting involved with the wedding planning.
Photo Covers
These two albums on the left aren't Fusion Packages. They are actually Pacifica Packages. The album on the left is a 10x10 and the one on the right is a 12x12 album. The reason why we are displaying them here is because we want to discuss photocovers. Our album company lent us one of their albums with photocover and unfortunately, the photos on the cover weren't impressive.
Photocovers can't be taken lightly. We've grown up with photo covers on books and magazines. The photo editor of a cooking magazine told us that not only do they shoot film for the cover, it's usually between 4"x5" and 8"x10" sheets of film used in high end view cameras that make these images. Why do they do this? Because amazing photos on the cover sells magazines. They want technically perfect pictures for their magazine cover. Thus, if we're all used to looking at these types of things on the cover of a magazine, how forgiving are we going to be if a lackluster image is on the cover of your magazine album?
The smaller album on the left was the type of image we're looking for, it's straight forward and simple. The orange background was added in later because the original white backgrounds was a bit too plain. On the larger album on the left the picture was more or less how we captured it. The background behind the limo was in focus and distracting. We gave it a motion blur to throw it out of focus and give action to the image. With this picture we selected a bright red to add impact.
The green photo cover album on the left is very impressive, but doesn't work. The album has a Grandeur Spearmint Vibrance Series spine and back with a photo cover front. Technically, the shot is perfect. It's hard to se but the bride and groom are kissing just as the doves are being released. This is a stellar photo! Yet, its proof that not every great image is a good candidate for a cover photo. Even though the cover matches with the grass in the image, it still doesn't work. This image would be much stronger had it been a panoramic inside the album. It's too small with too much detail and too much going on. The very top of the image is the brightest part of the image and calls attention to itself. A better crop job or perhaps extra work in Photoshop would have helped this image.
Red and Black, and college pride
This is a neat cover. It makes a strong impression because the blacks on the spine and in the image set off the Red Genuine Leather cover. We have an example of the same red Leather without the black spine and it's also a very smart looking cover Red is a hot color and thus selecting the right image to tie in with the cover is very important. Red and black look smart together, after all it's the school colors of San Diego State University. If you have college pride you can make your album cover match your school colors. There are college fans, and then there are USC fans. If you went to USC, yes we make your album Burgundy and Gold which is as close as we can get to USC Cardinal (PMS® 201C) and USC Gold (PMS® 123C). If you select the photocover option we an drop those exact colors into the image and use it as a background.
In case you were wondering if we can drop in the logo of your collage, favorite band or favorite corporation, the answer is that you will need written permission from the institution. Logos are trademarks and intellectual property. It's also a bit over the top. We can look up exact college PMS colors and use them in background of a photo for example. It can be a gradient pattern for a page background in your album. You can represent your college pride without being over the top. We've seen brides with college spirit take their college pins and fit them into the fabric surrounding the bottom of their bouquet. If we photograph this and put it in your album it's a part of your wedding day and thus doesn't violate their trademark policy. Often the college is a place where the bridal couple has met and they want a small memento in their album to remind them of this. We've had people ask about having their covers branded with their school logo. Yeah, mostly USC alumni want this. Come on peoples, it's just a college! If you're this into your college you need to go all the way and get a tattoo with you school logo or mascot! Think about it, the Trojan symbol, right over your heart? Well even show up early to the tattoo parlor on your wedding day and take pictures of you getting it put on!
This is an 11x14 album, and yes you can get this album instead of a 12x12 album in the Fusion package for the same price.
Parent Album Covers
The left album is Vibrance Series Grandeur Sunshine, the blue is Genuine Leather Ocean Blue (it's been darkened in this image, it's actually a tad bit lighter) and the album laying down is Genuine Leather Cinnamon Brown.. The thing that is interesting about the Leatherette option is that you have 12 cover colors to select from, and these come standard with the album package. Chances are that you can find something that will work for you in these 12 colors. However, for a small upgrade price you can get into the Vibrance Series. You can add a lot more color options, different textures, and even fabric covers. It's a viable upgrade. It can very much change the look and feel of the parent album.